By Edwig Ban
The National Institute of Statistics (INS) today presented the third estimate of Romania's economic growth for the second quarter of 2017. Compared to the initial estimates, in August and September, the INS revised upwards, from 5.9% to 6.1%, gross series, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter of this year.
On August 16, the first estimates published by the INS showed that GDP rose in the second quarter by 5.9% over the same period in 2016, gross series, 5.7% on adjusted series and 1.6 % versus the previous quarter. On September 5, INS reconfirmed these figures.
On Tuesday, the INS revised upward growth data from 5.9% to 6.1% on gross series.
"Compared to the same quarter of 2016, GDP grew by 6.1% on the gross series and by 5.9% on the seasonally adjusted series. In the first half of 2017, Gross Domestic Product grew by 5.9% on gross series and 5.8% on seasonally adjusted series compared to the first half of 2016 ", the INS press release said.
The main reason for this change is the increase in value added in construction (+4.7 percentage points) and in public administration and defense.
The GDP - seasonally adjusted data - estimated for the second quarter of this year was ROL 208,595 billion current prices, rising - in real terms - by 1.7% compared to the first quarter of 2017 and by 5.9% by the second quarter of 2016.
In Q2, the industry was the main driver of growth, with the industry contributing 1.9% to GDP growth. The share of industry in Romania's GDP remains very high at almost 24% of GDP. The trade and other related services contributed 1.7% to GDP growth in Q2 2017, and the information and communications industry by 0.6%.
For the whole of 2017, the government relies on 5.2% economic growth, while international institutions and most financial analysts estimate a rate of between 4% and 5%.
The economy has received more government-induced wage and tax incentives over the past two years. The measures stimulated consumption and economic growth, but some analysts show that these measures can generate structural imbalances in the Romanian economy.